Saturday
SS10: Mikkelsen makes his move
Light rain and hill fog greeted competitors as the third leg of Wales Rally GB began and enormous crowds were still flooding into the first of four stages in the Dovey Forest complex as the action began.
Andreas Mikkelsen was fastest out of the blocks. The Norwegian was quickest over the gravel by 1.2sec in his Volkswagen Polo R and moved ahead of both Mads Ostberg and Evgeny Novikov into fourth place.
“I think we had an advantage running early on the road but it was a good start,” he said.
Team-mate and leader Sebastien Ogier was 1.2sec behind in second and he extended his advantage to 23.2sec over Jari-Matti Latvala. “I was a bit surprised by the grip, like everyone. It was better than yesterday, a good stage,” said the Frenchman as he headed off down the short road section to the Dyfi test.
Latvala was only fifth in his Polo R but the Finn had no dramas to report. “All OK, but too slow, too slow,” he explained.
Evgeny Novikov made a good start with third fastest. The Russian was 2.3sec behind Mikkelsen and 1.3sec ahead of Ford Fiesta RS colleague Thierry Neuville, who emerged relatively unscathed after a brush with a straw bale at a chicane.
“My braking was a bit too late. We planned to go faster though the chicane but it wasn’t possible. My door is damaged and we lost two or three seconds,” said the Belgian.
Behind Latvala was Mads Ostberg, but the Norwegian saw his advantage over Novikov slashed to just 1.1sec in the standings and he was far from happy.
“I had no rhythm. The pace notes were chaotic so we lost a lot. The car feels very good but it was a bad stage from inside the car. We need to do so some adjustments in the reading of the notes so I hope that will happen,” he said.
click:
wrc.com/news/ss10
----------------------------
SS11: Kubica and Novikov crash out
Andreas Mikkelsen was the pacesetter once again as the action shifted to the slippery roads of Dyfi, and a stage that ended the day for Robert Kubica and Evgeny Novikov.
At the wheel of a Volkswagen Polo R, a confident Mikkelsen negotiated the 21km test 0.2sec quicker than his team-mate, rally leader Sebastien Ogier.
“This one was much trickier than the first,” he said. “The grip is changing all the time and it’s easy to do a mistake. For us it’s okay though, a clean stage with no problems. Let’s continue like that.”
Ogier too seemed to take the muddy forest roads in his stride. “It was a clean drive. I was looking at Latvala’s splits and when I saw near the end that I was faster I was a bit more careful. I have a good feeling with the car, it’s not a big attack because these are new stages for me,” he said.
But it was a very different story for Latvala in the third Polo. The Finn was 3.3sec slower than Ogier and arrived at the finish control shaking his head. “I don’t have the feeling, I’m sorry to say that, but it’s just not happening,” he explained.
Kubica rejoined the rally today after rolling his Citroen DS3 WRC out of Friday’s competition on the opening stage. Unfortunately, his luck showed no sign of improvement on Dyfi and he went off 3.7km from the start. The circumstances of the crash are not yet known but Citroen Racing quickly reported that Kubica and co-driver Michel Ferrara were uninjured.
Ford Fiesta RS driver Novikov went off shortly after, at the 6km mark. The Russian was third fastest on today's opening stage and was in the thick of the fight with Mikkelsen and Mads Ostberg for fourth place.
Ostberg, who was fifth fastest, saw where his M-Sport team-mate Novikov had crashed. “He was off in a very fast place, braking into a right-hand corner. We slowed down quite a lot but couldn’t see them, but there were people there, and they waved us on, so we continued,” he said. “For us it was okay, we lost some time at the end where it was very slippery but apart from that quite good.”
Thierry Neuville was third quickest and another driver to slow at the scene. The Qatar M-Sport team confirmed that Novikov and co-driver Ilka Minor were uninjured.
click:
wrc.com/news/ss11
----------------------------
SS12: Confidence returns for Latvala
Same stage but a very different demeanour from Jari-Matti Latvala.
After the first run through Gartheiniog this morning, Latvala cut a deflated figure. Low in confidence and only fifth fastest, he was not happy but just two hours later the buzz was back as Latvala set fastest time in his Volkswagen Polo R.
He edged team-mate Sebastien Ogier by just seven-tenths of a second, but the time gap didn’t matter to Latvala. He was buoyant again.
“It’s getting better. I had a slow morning and I couldn’t get the feeling. I had marked too many slippery places in my notes in the recce and I was too cautious. I’m here, the notes are fixed and it’s easier to drive,” he explained.
Ogier was calm and collected as he reflected on his 25.6sec lead. “There’s still a fight and Jari-Matti is still pushing. I’m in no drama, just doing the job, taking no crazy risks and driving to control the gap,” said the Frenchman.
Many felt the stage was even more slippery in the second pass. But it didn’t deter Andreas Mikkelsen whose experience of Wales from the early days of his career helped provide his German team with a 1-2-3 finish in the stage after completing 1.9sec behind Latvala.
“Everything is OK, no problems. Conditions are tricky and I’m trying to keep on the road but no moments and I’m happy with my driving,” said Mikkelsen, whose Polo R was missing its rear bumper.
Fourth was Thierry Neuville, whose advantage over Mikkelsen in third overall has been eroded to 23.8sec. “I’m driving at my own rhythm. I have no splits so I didn’t see that Andreas was pushing. I’m just driving at my speed and I think we will get through,” said the Ford Fiesta RS pilot.
Mads Ostberg was fifth but the Norwegian admitted he couldn’t match Mikkelsen’s speed in their fight for fourth overall. “We’re driving really well. There are not a lot of places that I could gain any more pace if I drove the stage one more time, but we’re losing time and I don’t know why,” he said.
Sixth was the sole surviving Citroen DS3 of Dani Sordo. Having overhauled Elfyn Evans for seventh as he recovers from his five minute penalty, the Spaniard’s next target is Martin Prokop. The Czech driver is 1min 21.2sec ahead.
click:
wrc.com/news/ss12
----------------------------
SS13: Latvala fastest
Volkswagen’s Jari-Matti Latvala maintained his stage-winning momentum through the repeated Dyfi, but rally leader Sebastien Ogier kept the Finn’s progress to a minimum.
Latvala, lying second overall, credited his improved pace to the same bolder approach to his driving he had tried on the previous stage. “I was too cautious with my notes before and had too many slippery sections marked when in fact it wasn’t that bad,” he said.
“I was losing half a second with each one, and with so many that time quickly added up. Now it’s a lot more comfortable to drive. It’s going much better.”
Ogier was second quickest in his idential Polo R, completing 0.6sec slower than Latvala, and acknowledging that he was keeping a close eye on his team-mate.
“The stage was okay, a good one, but we’re not really in a position where we need to push,” he said. “We just control the gap. We are happy with that.” As he left for the refuel at Ceinws, that gap was exactly 25 seconds.
Third overall, Ford Fiesta RS driver Thierry Neuville was another to be watching his mirrors as he sought to defend his position from a hard-charging Andreas Mikkelsen.
Neuville began Dyvi 23.8sec ahead of the Norwegian, having lost 4.2sec of his cushion on the previous stage. Over the 21km stage, and without the benefit of split times that weren’t working in his car, he extended the gap to 25.2sec.
“I drove a bit faster because he’s pushing and I want to have this gap,” said Neuville, who is on course to finish the season as runner-up in the drivers’ championship. “It’s difficult without split times, it’s hard to know where you are – which is a bit strange - but I’m enjoying these roads a lot.”
Mikkelsen was fourth quickest. “Another clean stage, no problems, no moments. I tried to be more aggressive with the car and play with it in these conditions,” he said.
Mads Ostberg was just 1.1sec slower than Mikkelsen, to remain less than 11 seconds adrift in the overall standings. But a downbeat Ostberg felt the hard-packed state of the repeated stages was blunting his attack.
“We are still going at quite similar speeds, and after some small adjustments my car is going a bit better, but when it's slippery I have no chance,” Ostberg explained. “It’s the polished rocks. I don’t know how he’s getting traction on them because I have no chance. I’m attacking everywhere, but one kilometre of these polished rocks and I’m three seconds down.”
click:
wrc.com/news/ss13
...